Obama To Launch Jobs Bus Tour

Then-Sen. Barack Obama
D-Ill., gets off his campaign bus to greet students after
speaking at a town hall meeting at Troy High School in Troy,
Mich. Monday, June 2, 2008.AP
Photo/Chris Carlson

President Barack Obama will launch a bus tour through the Midwest
later this month to focus on job creation and economic growth,
The New York Times reports.

The tour will take place during the week of August 15th, though
individual stops have yet to be scheduled.

From the paper: "While Mr. Obama is hitting the road, White House
officials said he would not promote the deal, about which he
himself has said he has qualms. If anything, he seems likely to
let the matter drop for at least a few days. As one senior aide
said, 'You want to let the acid out of the air after it’s over.'"

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus called
the trip political in a conference call with reporters on
Wednesday morning,
POLITICO reports. The trip will be run by the White House,
not the president's campaign committee.

"I think everything that the president does right now is
political, and, obviously, he just so happens to be doing a bus
tour through the Midwest, which is going to be a battleground
for the election coming up in 2012," Preibus said.

The Times added that Obama will hold town-hall meetings in
September to talk Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the second
round of deficit reduction talks.